I get so fucking sick of the religious argument against abortion.
Your fucking religion shouldn't tell someone else what to do. One religion shouldn't dictate the law of the United States. We are not a fucking theocracy.
But there's more to it than that.
We are talking about a fundamental right, to life and liberty here - the right of the woman.
The zygote/fetus is a dependent organism. Even if you believe life begins at conception, the host (woman) still has a right to abort that "life".
Here's why:
In US law, there is the concept of bodily autonomy, even for the dead:
These rights exist for the living as well. They can't hook someone up to you as a dialysis machine, or demand your kidney, blood or marrow, even if the recipient would be your parent, sibling or offspring (who would be the most likely match)!!
So why in the living fuck would a fetus have more rights?
Because pregnancy is a "natural" process, and the fetus is "where it should be"? So are worms and other parasites, but that doesn't give them a right to leech your blood and marrow. (Yes, an unwanted fetus is a parasite. In the case of rape, it is a parasite violently implanted by another person.)
Because it's your own "blood kin"? See above about parents, siblings or children. They don't have a claim on your body for life support.
So when you say "No Abortion", you are saying, essentially, that a woman does not have a right to decide what use her literal tissue will be put to. You are literally saying that a pregnant woman has fewer rights than a dead man whose son needs one of his kidneys or a bone marrow transplant.
You are essentially saying that she is a walking womb, a slave to biology and a man's sperm, having no choice but to risk her life (yes, folks, pregnancy is a risk to the woman's life, even if it seems to be going well) for the sacred fetus.
I don't care whether that's "what she was designed to do" - I don't believe in your designer, and even if I did there is still free will involved. Women are not animals, to be kept as a vessel for breeding children, cokking, cleaning and fucking. To hell with that shit.
So bodily autonomy, free will, and the right to privacy all come into play in the abortion matter.
That these "Pro (unborn) Life" people want to push their twisted beliefs about women into US law is horrifying. Most of these assholes (mostly older white men) want to restrict or ban contraceptives, too, because they interfere with "nature" (and their control over women.)
Now, of course, anything to do with pregnancy and being female is on the slate for being classified a "pre-existing condition". Women will become virtually uninsurable by the time most of them are thirty, except if they are married to rich men with jobs that cover their spouses.
They are trying to drive women back into the kitchen, stay at home slaves to their wombs and the men who own them. But that time is gone. We have had the taste of freedom, and it will live on, even in whispers, if they succeed for a time.
Your fucking religion shouldn't tell someone else what to do. One religion shouldn't dictate the law of the United States. We are not a fucking theocracy.
But there's more to it than that.
We are talking about a fundamental right, to life and liberty here - the right of the woman.
The zygote/fetus is a dependent organism. Even if you believe life begins at conception, the host (woman) still has a right to abort that "life".
Here's why:
In US law, there is the concept of bodily autonomy, even for the dead:
.... Under existing law, if a person prefers not to donate any organs or tissue after she dies may be buried or cremated or otherwise laid to rest with her organs intact. This means, among other things, that even when there is an organ shortage and people who might otherwise have lived will die without a transplant from a suitable donor, the government lacks the power to take organs from a potential donor who, prior to her death, did not consent to donation. In fact, as I have discussed elsewhere, the legal presumption, in the absence of evidence one way or the other, is that people have refused to donate their organs post-mortem.
One way of thinking about this approach is to say that our bodies belong to us, both in life and in death, and we have the right not to share them with anyone else, no matter how helpful such sharing would be or how necessary to save lives. By respecting people's right to refuse to donate organs upon death, then, we are showing respect for each individual's dignity rather than viewing people instrumentally, whether alive or dead, as organ donors.
-- http://www.dorfonlaw.org/2014/01/the-rights-of-dead.html
These rights exist for the living as well. They can't hook someone up to you as a dialysis machine, or demand your kidney, blood or marrow, even if the recipient would be your parent, sibling or offspring (who would be the most likely match)!!
So why in the living fuck would a fetus have more rights?
Because pregnancy is a "natural" process, and the fetus is "where it should be"? So are worms and other parasites, but that doesn't give them a right to leech your blood and marrow. (Yes, an unwanted fetus is a parasite. In the case of rape, it is a parasite violently implanted by another person.)
Because it's your own "blood kin"? See above about parents, siblings or children. They don't have a claim on your body for life support.
So when you say "No Abortion", you are saying, essentially, that a woman does not have a right to decide what use her literal tissue will be put to. You are literally saying that a pregnant woman has fewer rights than a dead man whose son needs one of his kidneys or a bone marrow transplant.
You are essentially saying that she is a walking womb, a slave to biology and a man's sperm, having no choice but to risk her life (yes, folks, pregnancy is a risk to the woman's life, even if it seems to be going well) for the sacred fetus.
I don't care whether that's "what she was designed to do" - I don't believe in your designer, and even if I did there is still free will involved. Women are not animals, to be kept as a vessel for breeding children, cokking, cleaning and fucking. To hell with that shit.
So bodily autonomy, free will, and the right to privacy all come into play in the abortion matter.
That these "Pro (unborn) Life" people want to push their twisted beliefs about women into US law is horrifying. Most of these assholes (mostly older white men) want to restrict or ban contraceptives, too, because they interfere with "nature" (and their control over women.)
Now, of course, anything to do with pregnancy and being female is on the slate for being classified a "pre-existing condition". Women will become virtually uninsurable by the time most of them are thirty, except if they are married to rich men with jobs that cover their spouses.
They are trying to drive women back into the kitchen, stay at home slaves to their wombs and the men who own them. But that time is gone. We have had the taste of freedom, and it will live on, even in whispers, if they succeed for a time.
- Current Mood:
angry
A lot of white feminists are rebelling against the idea of "intersectionality", saying it detracts from women, is anti-male, and encourages many of them to "play the victim". A classic example of this attitude is "Christina Hoff Sommers unleashes blistering critique of modern feminism at university lecture"
That's some grade A bullshit right there.
You see, most white women don't see a "need" for intersectionality, and they think it detracts from "feminism". That's primarily because they only have one axis of oppression: they're a woman. Everything else is stacked in their favor - the are pretty, thin, white, cisgender, heterosexual, christian, able-bodied, neurotypical, and all of the other stuff that is considered "normal" female. So to their eyes, there is only one oppression - patriarchy - and all the rest are inconsequential, since it doesn't affect them. That's how you get TERFs - radical "womyn only" feminists who insist that anyone designated male at birth is forever one of the "oppressors", blah, blah, blah.
It's a really arrogant and privileged way of thinking. What's worse is that some of them do have other axes of oppression, but they will oppress themselves rather than admit it. Mental illness, disability, poverty, alternative religion, etc, are shat on by our society too, but these one trick ponies won't admit that those things compound the issues that women in our society have to deal with, because they can often "pass" for normal.
So what is intersectionality, and why does it matter even to white women?
Intersectionality is a term coined by American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw to describe overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality,. Identity Politics, and Violence Against. Women of Color is the paper where the term first appears. While initially it was applied most often to women of color, it soon became apparent that there were multiple axes of oppression and discrimination, both major and minor.
The term tends to have an academic bend to it, and our anti-intellectual society doesn't much like it. Plus, a lot of mainstream white feminists hate it because it doesn't center them, but rather centers women of color and the multiple areas of discrimination that they face. Oh, boo, hoo, hoo. I guess we white women will have to let someone else drive the movement, and acknowledge them for it. Because the world really doesn't revolve around cis het abled middle-class white women, and they get butt hurt pretty easily.
But for white women who aren't young, thin, pretty, cis, het, abled, neurotypical Christians, it matters a lot. It explains why those of us who don't fit the "norm" for white feminists don't feel welcome in those spaces. It explains why we don't fit in mainstream feminism, with it's celebrations of menstruation, childrearing and dieting.
Another way of seeing intersectionality is by looking at it as facets of the individual's life an personality that interact and sometimes clash (intersect) with society and other people.
Let's look at my facets, some of which can be a two edged sword:
I'm white, disabled, afab, enby, butch, ace, physically disabled, have memory deficits, fat, on the high side of middle aged, married to another woman, childfree, geeky, science fiction and fantasy fan, filker, pagan, non-brit-trad, introverted, iconoclast, intellectual, writer, crafty, middle class, ex-poor, outspoken, tolerant of alternative medicine, progressive, own a small business, own a house, tend to clutter, and swear like a sailor!
That's over 30 facets, all of which can intersect with the biases and bigotries of others, and thus cause me grief. I'm not going to be able to hide some of them very well (pass), and I can't hide most of them for very long. So even though I'm white, there are a lot of facets to my life that your average cis het abled skinny Christian white person isn't going to be disposed to tolerate very well, and may well cause me inconvenience, financial loss, or bodily discomfort or harm.
I actually have examples of how many of them have cost me jobs, promotions, housing, social standing or friends over the years. It's not just because I'm assigned female, it's all of the other things too.
That's intersectionality.
Now if you take someone like me, and flip the white to black or latinx, you end up with a severe uphill row to hoe in order to get anywhere in life, or even survive outside of poverty. That's why the black womanist community uses intersectionality so much - because it more accurately describes the web of discrimination that they are trapped in in our society.
Since mainstream white feminism doesn't consider any of these things to be relevant to it's struggle against "the patriarchy", it tends to look down its collective nose at people who want to be seen as more than just a woman fighting the patriarchy. Mainstream white feminism sees this as "playing the victim", because we acknowledge that we are oppressed for more than just our gender, and that just curing the sexism won't magically make it all better.
As an intersectional feminist, I realize that racism, classism, ableism cis-sexism, heterosexism, religious discrimination, dominionism, anti-intellectualism and even fascism are part of and adjunct to the struggle against simple sexism that feminists engage in. In our society you can't really tease apart all of the biases, they overlap so much it isn't even funny.
But women like Christina Hoff Summers will sit in their smug little privileged world and talk smack about people who discuss intersectionality, and spread their particular brand of privileged bullshit. And the NY Times and The National Review will give them friendly, sympathic coverage. Thus my life, and the lives of other people who have more than one facet that our society discriminates against, will get a little harder, because we've now been labeled as "playing the victim", along with all of our other conflicts with people like Ms Sommers.
You know what I have to say about that? Fuck Christina Hoff Summers and her smug white feminism with a rusty chainsaw. She does no service to any women who don't pass her brand of narrow, white, middle class, cis, het, able-bodied feminism.
If that's "real" feminism, then I'm not a "feminist".
That's some grade A bullshit right there.
You see, most white women don't see a "need" for intersectionality, and they think it detracts from "feminism". That's primarily because they only have one axis of oppression: they're a woman. Everything else is stacked in their favor - the are pretty, thin, white, cisgender, heterosexual, christian, able-bodied, neurotypical, and all of the other stuff that is considered "normal" female. So to their eyes, there is only one oppression - patriarchy - and all the rest are inconsequential, since it doesn't affect them. That's how you get TERFs - radical "womyn only" feminists who insist that anyone designated male at birth is forever one of the "oppressors", blah, blah, blah.
It's a really arrogant and privileged way of thinking. What's worse is that some of them do have other axes of oppression, but they will oppress themselves rather than admit it. Mental illness, disability, poverty, alternative religion, etc, are shat on by our society too, but these one trick ponies won't admit that those things compound the issues that women in our society have to deal with, because they can often "pass" for normal.
So what is intersectionality, and why does it matter even to white women?
Intersectionality is a term coined by American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw to describe overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality,. Identity Politics, and Violence Against. Women of Color is the paper where the term first appears. While initially it was applied most often to women of color, it soon became apparent that there were multiple axes of oppression and discrimination, both major and minor.
The term tends to have an academic bend to it, and our anti-intellectual society doesn't much like it. Plus, a lot of mainstream white feminists hate it because it doesn't center them, but rather centers women of color and the multiple areas of discrimination that they face. Oh, boo, hoo, hoo. I guess we white women will have to let someone else drive the movement, and acknowledge them for it. Because the world really doesn't revolve around cis het abled middle-class white women, and they get butt hurt pretty easily.
But for white women who aren't young, thin, pretty, cis, het, abled, neurotypical Christians, it matters a lot. It explains why those of us who don't fit the "norm" for white feminists don't feel welcome in those spaces. It explains why we don't fit in mainstream feminism, with it's celebrations of menstruation, childrearing and dieting.
Another way of seeing intersectionality is by looking at it as facets of the individual's life an personality that interact and sometimes clash (intersect) with society and other people.
Let's look at my facets, some of which can be a two edged sword:
I'm white, disabled, afab, enby, butch, ace, physically disabled, have memory deficits, fat, on the high side of middle aged, married to another woman, childfree, geeky, science fiction and fantasy fan, filker, pagan, non-brit-trad, introverted, iconoclast, intellectual, writer, crafty, middle class, ex-poor, outspoken, tolerant of alternative medicine, progressive, own a small business, own a house, tend to clutter, and swear like a sailor!
That's over 30 facets, all of which can intersect with the biases and bigotries of others, and thus cause me grief. I'm not going to be able to hide some of them very well (pass), and I can't hide most of them for very long. So even though I'm white, there are a lot of facets to my life that your average cis het abled skinny Christian white person isn't going to be disposed to tolerate very well, and may well cause me inconvenience, financial loss, or bodily discomfort or harm.
I actually have examples of how many of them have cost me jobs, promotions, housing, social standing or friends over the years. It's not just because I'm assigned female, it's all of the other things too.
That's intersectionality.
Now if you take someone like me, and flip the white to black or latinx, you end up with a severe uphill row to hoe in order to get anywhere in life, or even survive outside of poverty. That's why the black womanist community uses intersectionality so much - because it more accurately describes the web of discrimination that they are trapped in in our society.
Since mainstream white feminism doesn't consider any of these things to be relevant to it's struggle against "the patriarchy", it tends to look down its collective nose at people who want to be seen as more than just a woman fighting the patriarchy. Mainstream white feminism sees this as "playing the victim", because we acknowledge that we are oppressed for more than just our gender, and that just curing the sexism won't magically make it all better.
As an intersectional feminist, I realize that racism, classism, ableism cis-sexism, heterosexism, religious discrimination, dominionism, anti-intellectualism and even fascism are part of and adjunct to the struggle against simple sexism that feminists engage in. In our society you can't really tease apart all of the biases, they overlap so much it isn't even funny.
But women like Christina Hoff Summers will sit in their smug little privileged world and talk smack about people who discuss intersectionality, and spread their particular brand of privileged bullshit. And the NY Times and The National Review will give them friendly, sympathic coverage. Thus my life, and the lives of other people who have more than one facet that our society discriminates against, will get a little harder, because we've now been labeled as "playing the victim", along with all of our other conflicts with people like Ms Sommers.
You know what I have to say about that? Fuck Christina Hoff Summers and her smug white feminism with a rusty chainsaw. She does no service to any women who don't pass her brand of narrow, white, middle class, cis, het, able-bodied feminism.
If that's "real" feminism, then I'm not a "feminist".
- Current Mood:
I am mostly on DreamWidth now, only cross posting to LJ. If you haven't claimed your name over there or added me, and you want me to read your stuff there, my user name is the same in both places. In a month or so I will try to merge all f the comments and stuff together, and redirect LJ comment to DW.
Why DW? A few reasons: US owned and operated. Open source software. Not anti-gay Russian crazy law.
While my journal is not pornographic or even smutty, I deal with adult themes, adult language (I swear like a sailor), and adult life - therefore it is marked 18+. If you aren't 18+, sorry.
Why DW? A few reasons: US owned and operated. Open source software. Not anti-gay Russian crazy law.
While my journal is not pornographic or even smutty, I deal with adult themes, adult language (I swear like a sailor), and adult life - therefore it is marked 18+. If you aren't 18+, sorry.
So, certain types of people on social media think that things like civil rights, religious rights, gay rights, or women's rights are subject to "debate" and "negotiation"
What a crock of shit.
Seriously, would these straight, white hetero, Christian men like for the rest of us to start "debating" if they should be "allowed" to marry a woman, be straight without losing their jobs and homes, walk down the street without being subject to search because they might be a Christian Nationalist terrorist or opioid addict, or whether they should be allowed to purchase condoms or viagra without the permission of their wives or mothers? I very much doubt it.
You see, when marginalized people stand up for their rights, they aren't demanding "special" rights. They don't want to jump the line at the county clerk's office for a marriage license, they don't want to annul hetero marriages, they don't want to outlaw Christianity and deport all Christians and white people as suspected Christian Fundamentalist or White Power terrorists. They don't want to search every white person at least once aevery ten minutes when they're walking down the street, and put them in handcuffs on the ground if they've ever had martial arts training.
That non privileged people just want what the privileged people have - equal rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, privacy, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, ability to work and be paid the same as anyone else with equal skill, the right to have a place to live that isn't in a slum, etc.
These things aren't suitable for debate. Because if a person doesn't think that marginalized people are entitled to equal rights, then they don't believe that those things are rights at all.
What a crock of shit.
Seriously, would these straight, white hetero, Christian men like for the rest of us to start "debating" if they should be "allowed" to marry a woman, be straight without losing their jobs and homes, walk down the street without being subject to search because they might be a Christian Nationalist terrorist or opioid addict, or whether they should be allowed to purchase condoms or viagra without the permission of their wives or mothers? I very much doubt it.
You see, when marginalized people stand up for their rights, they aren't demanding "special" rights. They don't want to jump the line at the county clerk's office for a marriage license, they don't want to annul hetero marriages, they don't want to outlaw Christianity and deport all Christians and white people as suspected Christian Fundamentalist or White Power terrorists. They don't want to search every white person at least once aevery ten minutes when they're walking down the street, and put them in handcuffs on the ground if they've ever had martial arts training.
That non privileged people just want what the privileged people have - equal rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, privacy, freedom of conscience, freedom of association, ability to work and be paid the same as anyone else with equal skill, the right to have a place to live that isn't in a slum, etc.
These things aren't suitable for debate. Because if a person doesn't think that marginalized people are entitled to equal rights, then they don't believe that those things are rights at all.
- Current Mood:
predatory
Yes, I drifted away from LJ/DW, entertaining myself with the frivolity of Farcebook and the supposedly serious environs of Medium. I even used my wallet name on Twitter.
Meh.
After a while it felt like I was exposed, my self raw for the world to abuse, judged for my name, gender, gender presentation, age, disability and occupation rather than the content I wrote. I'm not used to having my personal and professional life so damned intertwined.
I have decided that my primary posting location will be Dreamwidth, because fuck Russia.
Most of my stuff will stay friends only. My paranoia is starting to get tweaked by the creeps in the White House and Congress.
I would like to offer a smack upside the head to all the people who have been using my wallet name and my pseudonym interchangeably. It is very uncomfortable, especially nowadays, especially as I'm finally allowing myself to explore why I don't fit my birth gender identity. (People who've known me a long time know that I haven't been comfortable as "female" for most of my life, but don't have a burning need to perform masculinity either.)
Anyway, hi to people I haven't talked to in a while.
- Current Location:home
- Current Mood:
morose
Well, other than the fucking blue on white glare forms for posts and comments, I miss the old LJ. As it is, if they want to imitate FB and G+, I'll just use those.
I've been on FB under my wallet name, and the only reason I bother is because I have family connections there. When LJ tried to become FB lite wannabe, everyone just gave up and went to actual FB. Trying to imitate someone else's success never works well.
I miss the old LJ. My eyes hurt jut typing this entry, and the form doesn't display properly on Linux and FireFox because of bad CSS.
I've been on FB under my wallet name, and the only reason I bother is because I have family connections there. When LJ tried to become FB lite wannabe, everyone just gave up and went to actual FB. Trying to imitate someone else's success never works well.
I miss the old LJ. My eyes hurt jut typing this entry, and the form doesn't display properly on Linux and FireFox because of bad CSS.
- Current Mood:
The stark white on blue kindergarten interface of LJ is getting more ubiquitous, and harder on the eyes than goddamn Facebook.
Plus, my Friends Page is now a hideous light blue and white mess, not my style that I want it seen in.
Seriously, assholes, get your fingers out of my design. If I wanted ubiquitous blue and white I'd be using Facebook, and you'd have nothing.
Plus, my Friends Page is now a hideous light blue and white mess, not my style that I want it seen in.
Seriously, assholes, get your fingers out of my design. If I wanted ubiquitous blue and white I'd be using Facebook, and you'd have nothing.
- Current Mood:
If I have to justify my rights to you, or "ask nicely" if I can speak, act or live, then you don't consider them rights at all, and we have nothing to discuss. If for you it's just "policy" or "debate", but for those like me it is life or death, I do not consider that you have a say in the matter.
Sure, you might claim to be "involved(a)", but if I'm "committed(b)", and you can just butt the fuck out.
Note: Think a ham and eggs breakfast. The chicken is (a)involved, the pig is (b)committed.
Sure, you might claim to be "involved(a)", but if I'm "committed(b)", and you can just butt the fuck out.
Note: Think a ham and eggs breakfast. The chicken is (a)involved, the pig is (b)committed.
- Current Mood:
Several years ago, in my early twenties, I was literally within weeks of being homeless. My car was dead, I was unemployed and almost out of benefits, had been eating rice and ramen for almost 6 months, and I was being evicted from my apartment because they were raising the rent by over $100 a month (30% more). I was literally less than a month from losing everything I had. The "public assistance" stuff at that time was only available to women with kids, not able-bodied students.
I got lucky - I found a (temp) job I could get to by transit, and another apartment that I could (just barely) afford. I moved on the last weekend before the end of my notice. All during this time I had no medical insurance, of course, so even when I trashed my ankle a few months later, I just ace bandaged it, stayed home from work for two days (unpaid) and took lots of ibuprofen.
But I will never forget, staring into a dingy bathroom mirror on a soon to be overpriced slum apartment (complete with roaches), telling myself I would never let myself get that desperate again. I already had too many men catcalling me on the streets, following me home from the bus, etc - how the fuck would I survive without even a car to lock myself into? How would I cook, what could I eat or drink?
Ever since then, I've always had a few months of food "in case". I've always tried to keep a car that I could sleep in, if I had to. I always had "camping gear" available, ready to hand. I've always had a plan B, plan C, and plan D, and fret if I don't.
I always will.
I wasn't raised a few weeks away from homelessness. I was middle class, professional parents, etc.
But that was before Ronald Reagan was president, and the shredding of the safety net.
So every time someone shits on the homeless, I take it personally. That could have been me, but for a lucky call from a temp agency. The only difference, in a lot of cases, is that they never got that lucky call.
Two of my roommates were homeless before they moved in with me. Both veterans.
I don't go on marches and all of that. But my friends know that if they're a bit short on food, if I've got something they can use to eat, it's theirs for the asking. If someone needs a couple months crash, if I've got room, they can have a roof for a while, but not necessarily forever.
I will not vote for a Republican who is heir to anything resembling Reagan's "legacy".
No matter how much I make, no matter how high I rise, a part of me will always be a terrified twenty-something looking at living on the street with nothing.
Always.
I got lucky - I found a (temp) job I could get to by transit, and another apartment that I could (just barely) afford. I moved on the last weekend before the end of my notice. All during this time I had no medical insurance, of course, so even when I trashed my ankle a few months later, I just ace bandaged it, stayed home from work for two days (unpaid) and took lots of ibuprofen.
But I will never forget, staring into a dingy bathroom mirror on a soon to be overpriced slum apartment (complete with roaches), telling myself I would never let myself get that desperate again. I already had too many men catcalling me on the streets, following me home from the bus, etc - how the fuck would I survive without even a car to lock myself into? How would I cook, what could I eat or drink?
Ever since then, I've always had a few months of food "in case". I've always tried to keep a car that I could sleep in, if I had to. I always had "camping gear" available, ready to hand. I've always had a plan B, plan C, and plan D, and fret if I don't.
I always will.
I wasn't raised a few weeks away from homelessness. I was middle class, professional parents, etc.
But that was before Ronald Reagan was president, and the shredding of the safety net.
So every time someone shits on the homeless, I take it personally. That could have been me, but for a lucky call from a temp agency. The only difference, in a lot of cases, is that they never got that lucky call.
Two of my roommates were homeless before they moved in with me. Both veterans.
I don't go on marches and all of that. But my friends know that if they're a bit short on food, if I've got something they can use to eat, it's theirs for the asking. If someone needs a couple months crash, if I've got room, they can have a roof for a while, but not necessarily forever.
I will not vote for a Republican who is heir to anything resembling Reagan's "legacy".
No matter how much I make, no matter how high I rise, a part of me will always be a terrified twenty-something looking at living on the street with nothing.
Always.
- Current Mood:
Just got my most recent PG&E bill: $1301!!!!!!!!
Yeah, December was fucking cold, but holy shit!!! 3240 kwh???? Plus, January has yet another rate increase. 90% of that is at $0.363/kwh - tier 4, let us bleed you white because you dare to heat your home or have electronics.
Tier 4 is 200% of baseline and over, but the fucking baseline is set for a single person in an efficiency apartment, with one small fridge, one dinky tv, and no gadgets or electric heaters. Not an old victorian with a one lung furnace, several computers, cell phones, tablets, stereos, multiple fridge/freezers, and 5 people!
I have hated their ever-shrinking baseline since I was in a two bedroom apartment. I haven't been under baseline since I was in a one bedroom with no TV and a small fridge by myself. Then my bill actually showed a small uptick when I used my freaking sewing machine. That was 30 years ago, and the fuckery has only gotten worse.
I will be so glad when I get the solar installed. That will knock down the top half of my bill. The utilities aren't liking solar power much, it eats into their obscene profits. They can't gouge as much at the top tier, fuck you in the ass without lube, rate.
Yeah, December was fucking cold, but holy shit!!! 3240 kwh???? Plus, January has yet another rate increase. 90% of that is at $0.363/kwh - tier 4, let us bleed you white because you dare to heat your home or have electronics.
Tier 4 is 200% of baseline and over, but the fucking baseline is set for a single person in an efficiency apartment, with one small fridge, one dinky tv, and no gadgets or electric heaters. Not an old victorian with a one lung furnace, several computers, cell phones, tablets, stereos, multiple fridge/freezers, and 5 people!
I have hated their ever-shrinking baseline since I was in a two bedroom apartment. I haven't been under baseline since I was in a one bedroom with no TV and a small fridge by myself. Then my bill actually showed a small uptick when I used my freaking sewing machine. That was 30 years ago, and the fuckery has only gotten worse.
I will be so glad when I get the solar installed. That will knock down the top half of my bill. The utilities aren't liking solar power much, it eats into their obscene profits. They can't gouge as much at the top tier, fuck you in the ass without lube, rate.
Unemployed, but at least I qualify for unemployment, which will cover the mortgage for six months. I just need to come up with the other $3000/month operating expenses, including COBRA at over $1200/mo. I will have to liquidate my stock in my old company, but I won't lose money on the deal. If I didn't have that reserve, I'd be terrified right now. As it is, I'm quietly panicking - I'm 52, and Silicon Valley is ageist as hell. Datapard hasn't even been able to get temp work for over 4 years.
I have had phone screens and interviews since the day after I was let go. Unfortunately, it's still an employers market (thank you, GOP) and they want the usual laundry list of every specific little program in their environment. Some of them even call me about contract opportunities at my previous employer!
Fighting the winter unemployed blues, but doing OK if I remember to take my supplements, especially vitamin D3.
I still need to put the new power supply in my Linux desktop (the original blew last July) and unload the half dozen or so blog posts and stories that are trying to burst out of my brain. I can't do them on my laptop because it would aggravate my RSIs too much. I may need to take the Windoze netbook and see if it will run Dragon Dictate or something.
My health is okay, but I really need to get a new neuro to get an updated sleep study and script for Imitrex.
Because I have had high (as in above $600) utility bills, I did qualify for zero down solar. Considering how much the PG&E rates have been ratcheting up in the last few years, locking in my rate increases on half my utility costs to 2.9%/year is a good deal - it flattens my cost curve a lot. Plus, if I overproduce, I can sell to the grid, which actually helps stabilize the grid on hot days. I had said when I owned this place I wanted solar, now it's going to happen. Still need $$$ to do painting and other repairs. If I get work in the new two months, I can use the liquidated stock for house repairs.
I have had phone screens and interviews since the day after I was let go. Unfortunately, it's still an employers market (thank you, GOP) and they want the usual laundry list of every specific little program in their environment. Some of them even call me about contract opportunities at my previous employer!
Fighting the winter unemployed blues, but doing OK if I remember to take my supplements, especially vitamin D3.
I still need to put the new power supply in my Linux desktop (the original blew last July) and unload the half dozen or so blog posts and stories that are trying to burst out of my brain. I can't do them on my laptop because it would aggravate my RSIs too much. I may need to take the Windoze netbook and see if it will run Dragon Dictate or something.
My health is okay, but I really need to get a new neuro to get an updated sleep study and script for Imitrex.
Because I have had high (as in above $600) utility bills, I did qualify for zero down solar. Considering how much the PG&E rates have been ratcheting up in the last few years, locking in my rate increases on half my utility costs to 2.9%/year is a good deal - it flattens my cost curve a lot. Plus, if I overproduce, I can sell to the grid, which actually helps stabilize the grid on hot days. I had said when I owned this place I wanted solar, now it's going to happen. Still need $$$ to do painting and other repairs. If I get work in the new two months, I can use the liquidated stock for house repairs.
- Current Mood:
anxious
This is why I will never have that surgery (from another blog about something else, names removed):
Gastric bypass is major, life threatening surgery. It can kill you just as dead as committing suicide from bullying. It's elective, no matter how much your doctor bullies you into it. No matter how much supposedly well meaning friends and family try to bully you into it.
What bypass pushers are saying is they would rather see you dead than "fat".
Fuck that.
Yes, it's your choice, but the fact is that it can kill you earlier than any supposed "complications of obesity". Sure, people get lucky, for a while, then 3 or more years later can die anyway. It also causes severe malnutrition and calcium leaching.
Ask yourself this: Is living up to society's expectation for a trim appearance worth dying for, worth leaving your family desolate and grieving? Is being fashionable worth your life?
Then make your choice.
------------
P.S.: I know some of my friends who read this have had the surgery. Since it's your body, it's your choice. However, I can't agree with you on it. I'll support you in doing what you wish, but a part of me cries at the risk and the waste. I don't want to attend your funeral because of fashion.
Three years earlier D had gastric-bypass surgery after which she lost an extraordinary amount of weight. By 2008 she needed a skin-reduction operation. In August D went back into the hospital for that surgery. Within a few days of the operation she became terribly ill. Her intestines had unexpectedly twisted causing her to become septic. Eight days later she was gone.This woman's daughter had been bullied about her mother's weight. Not her own, her mother's weight. After she committed suicide over this and other bullying, her mother, D, got the bypass surgery. Three years later she was dead from complications. So now there were two casualties from the fat-shaming.
Gastric bypass is major, life threatening surgery. It can kill you just as dead as committing suicide from bullying. It's elective, no matter how much your doctor bullies you into it. No matter how much supposedly well meaning friends and family try to bully you into it.
What bypass pushers are saying is they would rather see you dead than "fat".
Fuck that.
Yes, it's your choice, but the fact is that it can kill you earlier than any supposed "complications of obesity". Sure, people get lucky, for a while, then 3 or more years later can die anyway. It also causes severe malnutrition and calcium leaching.
Ask yourself this: Is living up to society's expectation for a trim appearance worth dying for, worth leaving your family desolate and grieving? Is being fashionable worth your life?
Then make your choice.
------------
P.S.: I know some of my friends who read this have had the surgery. Since it's your body, it's your choice. However, I can't agree with you on it. I'll support you in doing what you wish, but a part of me cries at the risk and the waste. I don't want to attend your funeral because of fashion.
- Current Mood:
Getting married tomorrow. Aug 1 is the anniversary of our DP, so we put the wedding on the same day.
Small, local ceremony officiated by a friend. No big anything. Probably a reception at a later date (at a SF&F con, natch.)
Small, local ceremony officiated by a friend. No big anything. Probably a reception at a later date (at a SF&F con, natch.)
You know, I really try to respect other folks plans and schedules. I will cut stuff short so I can be where I need to be to allow for other people's arrangements, and try to be as flexible as I can. But some others can't be bothered to extend the same courtesy to me. ( Read more...Collapse )
- Current Mood:
It cost me $564 to get my taxes done this year, because of DOMA and Prop 8. If those two things weren't there, I'd make an honest woman of DataWolf, and do the (joint) taxes myself for a cost of ~$150.
- Current Mood:
Food, drink industries undermine health policy, study finds
The only thing is they forgot the other half - the diet/exercise/pharma industries who make $$$$$$$$$$ off of selling us the "cure" to the problems caused by the food and drink industries. Hell, look at who puts out the "Weight Watchers" and "Jenny Craig" "food", and how much crap it's loaded with.
It's interesting that no actual cures for diseases seem to have come out of the medical/pharmaceutical industry lately - just very expensive pills to "manage" the symptoms for the rest of your life. Diabetes has been around for how long, but all they do is make slightly better medications to "manage" it, not find a cure.
But what do I know, I'm just the product of the TV generation.
The only thing is they forgot the other half - the diet/exercise/pharma industries who make $$$$$$$$$$ off of selling us the "cure" to the problems caused by the food and drink industries. Hell, look at who puts out the "Weight Watchers" and "Jenny Craig" "food", and how much crap it's loaded with.
It's interesting that no actual cures for diseases seem to have come out of the medical/pharmaceutical industry lately - just very expensive pills to "manage" the symptoms for the rest of your life. Diabetes has been around for how long, but all they do is make slightly better medications to "manage" it, not find a cure.
But what do I know, I'm just the product of the TV generation.
Alternet, Mother Jones, and other reality based or liberal sources:
* Latest Pathetic Conservative Attack on Social Security: Disability Fraud Hysteria
Move over Welfare Queen. The Disability King is the new pet scapegoat for all that’s wrong with America.
* A Fetus Is Not a Person if it Costs us Money, Says Catholic Church
Forced to put its money where its mouth is, the Catholic Church backs off on the idea that the fetus is a person.
* Hillary Faces Down The Angry Men
From simpleton Ron Johnson to delusional Rand Paul, GOP senators swung at the Secretary of State and hit themselves.
* Obama's Failure to Punish Banks Should Be Causing Serious Social Unrest
A new PBS Frontline report examines outrageous steps Obama's administration took to protect Wall St. Wall Street from prosecutions.
* An Academic Smackdown: Refuting the Absurd Social Science Claim that "Poverty is in Our Genes"
* Personhood USA's Unhinged Response to National Advocates for Pregnant Women Study
* 4 Freedoms in America That Don't Exist Anymore
Freedom seems to exist more in our minds than in reality.
* A Girl Reads the New York Times: Why Are All the Front-Page Articles By Men?
The paper of record can't find any women reporters?
* When the Law Won't Call it "Rape"
If there's confusion among the public (and politicians) about rape, baffling, conflicting state laws make it worse.
* Fracking Boom Overwhelming Hospitals With Uninsured Laborers
* Read My Lips: Yes New Taxes
* The Way It Was
The Beatles ruled. The mini was in. I was seventeen, and pregnant. What happened next is what could happen again.
* Texas Public Schools: Still Teaching Creationism
* Bobby Jindal Thinks the GOP Isn't Right-Wing Enough
* A Rape a Minute, a Thousand Corpses a Year
Violence against women is incessantly overlooked, both in America and elsewhere.
* Boy Scouts Losing Big Funders Over Anti-Gay Policy
* No More "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice"
Op-Ed: It's time to abandon confusing and limiting labels and live dangerously in abortion's grey area.
* Coke: Wait, People Thought Vitaminwater Was Good for You?
* Top Earners Set to Pay Most, Especially Married People
* How to Avoid the Prying Eyes
* U.S. Still Suffering Depression Conditions: Paul Krugman
* The Science of Why Comment Trolls Suck
The online peanut gallery can get you so riled up that your ability to reason goes out the window, a new study finds.
* Latest Pathetic Conservative Attack on Social Security: Disability Fraud Hysteria
Move over Welfare Queen. The Disability King is the new pet scapegoat for all that’s wrong with America.
* A Fetus Is Not a Person if it Costs us Money, Says Catholic Church
Forced to put its money where its mouth is, the Catholic Church backs off on the idea that the fetus is a person.
* Hillary Faces Down The Angry Men
From simpleton Ron Johnson to delusional Rand Paul, GOP senators swung at the Secretary of State and hit themselves.
* Obama's Failure to Punish Banks Should Be Causing Serious Social Unrest
A new PBS Frontline report examines outrageous steps Obama's administration took to protect Wall St. Wall Street from prosecutions.
* An Academic Smackdown: Refuting the Absurd Social Science Claim that "Poverty is in Our Genes"
* Personhood USA's Unhinged Response to National Advocates for Pregnant Women Study
* 4 Freedoms in America That Don't Exist Anymore
Freedom seems to exist more in our minds than in reality.
* A Girl Reads the New York Times: Why Are All the Front-Page Articles By Men?
The paper of record can't find any women reporters?
* When the Law Won't Call it "Rape"
If there's confusion among the public (and politicians) about rape, baffling, conflicting state laws make it worse.
* Fracking Boom Overwhelming Hospitals With Uninsured Laborers
* Read My Lips: Yes New Taxes
* The Way It Was
The Beatles ruled. The mini was in. I was seventeen, and pregnant. What happened next is what could happen again.
* Texas Public Schools: Still Teaching Creationism
* Bobby Jindal Thinks the GOP Isn't Right-Wing Enough
* A Rape a Minute, a Thousand Corpses a Year
Violence against women is incessantly overlooked, both in America and elsewhere.
* Boy Scouts Losing Big Funders Over Anti-Gay Policy
* No More "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice"
Op-Ed: It's time to abandon confusing and limiting labels and live dangerously in abortion's grey area.
* Coke: Wait, People Thought Vitaminwater Was Good for You?
* Top Earners Set to Pay Most, Especially Married People
* How to Avoid the Prying Eyes
* U.S. Still Suffering Depression Conditions: Paul Krugman
* The Science of Why Comment Trolls Suck
The online peanut gallery can get you so riled up that your ability to reason goes out the window, a new study finds.
- Current Mood:
busy
Dear $vendor,
When I go to your web site, and order a product $X, I expect that you have $X in stock to ship to me. If I wanted a backorder, there are dozens of other, cheaper vendors who can backorder $X, but who are honest enough to not when they don't have an item in stock.
Even if you have to suddenly backorder an item, tell me that you have done so, instead of waiting for me to wonder if the post office has lost it or something. If I have to ask you where it is, and you only then tell me it's backordered, I will cancel the order.
No love,
Me
When I go to your web site, and order a product $X, I expect that you have $X in stock to ship to me. If I wanted a backorder, there are dozens of other, cheaper vendors who can backorder $X, but who are honest enough to not when they don't have an item in stock.
Even if you have to suddenly backorder an item, tell me that you have done so, instead of waiting for me to wonder if the post office has lost it or something. If I have to ask you where it is, and you only then tell me it's backordered, I will cancel the order.
No love,
Me
- Current Mood:
Written in The Up-Goer Five text editor
I put "how to do things" stuff on computers and make them start up again. Sometimes I do this to lots of computers at a time. I fix broken stuff on lots of computers, by one or many. I look at something that tells me what is broken on my computers, and fix them fast, or call someone else to fix it in a hurry. Then I write "how to" papers for the things I do so other people can do it the same and not do it wrong. Some days I do this for 12 hours at a time.
I put "how to do things" stuff on computers and make them start up again. Sometimes I do this to lots of computers at a time. I fix broken stuff on lots of computers, by one or many. I look at something that tells me what is broken on my computers, and fix them fast, or call someone else to fix it in a hurry. Then I write "how to" papers for the things I do so other people can do it the same and not do it wrong. Some days I do this for 12 hours at a time.
- Current Mood:
amused
For several years I've been doing the predictions thing every January, and a retrospective on the year previous.
I probably won't do a full one this year. Too much fuckery going on, the economy sort of gets better, but not for a lot of folks in red states, rights in general take a hit from ALEC driven GOP legislators, again mostly in red states, but any bill coming out of the US House is also infected with degenerate neo-Republicanism.
I want real conservatives back, not these jackass, Koch fellating, teabagging, randroid narcissistic dominionists that rule the current GOP. They started cropping up during Reagan, and PNAC, and every year have doubled down on the nuttiness. I want conservatives who care more about their country than sucking up to Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, the Koch brothers, the Religious Right, et al. Is that too much to ask?
I probably won't do a full one this year. Too much fuckery going on, the economy sort of gets better, but not for a lot of folks in red states, rights in general take a hit from ALEC driven GOP legislators, again mostly in red states, but any bill coming out of the US House is also infected with degenerate neo-Republicanism.
I want real conservatives back, not these jackass, Koch fellating, teabagging, randroid narcissistic dominionists that rule the current GOP. They started cropping up during Reagan, and PNAC, and every year have doubled down on the nuttiness. I want conservatives who care more about their country than sucking up to Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, the Koch brothers, the Religious Right, et al. Is that too much to ask?
- Current Mood:
I try to live my beliefs: Helping starts at home. First your kin and friends, then your neighbors and town, then your state and nation, finally the rest of the world.
If anyone wants to know what I want for giftmas, it is this: Help someone out who has less than you do.
Give to a local organization that doesn't attach "strings" to its aid (that lets out the salvation Army, BTW.) If you need help, say so. I sure don't need more stuff, and the few things I do need I'll get myself.
Here's a few of my favorites:
Feeding Americe/Second Harvest - find your local food bank
Second Harvest Food Bank, Santa Clara County
Wounded Warrior Project - veterans
Habitat for Humanity - housing
VFW - veterans
Planned Parenthood - women's health
Have a great giftmas.
If anyone wants to know what I want for giftmas, it is this: Help someone out who has less than you do.
Give to a local organization that doesn't attach "strings" to its aid (that lets out the salvation Army, BTW.) If you need help, say so. I sure don't need more stuff, and the few things I do need I'll get myself.
Here's a few of my favorites:
Feeding Americe/Second Harvest - find your local food bank
Second Harvest Food Bank, Santa Clara County
Wounded Warrior Project - veterans
Habitat for Humanity - housing
VFW - veterans
Planned Parenthood - women's health
Have a great giftmas.
- Current Mood:
contemplative
Because of the recent huge uptick in spams comments, and the concurrent time needed to removed and report them, I have regretfully set my journal to disallow anonymous comments. Additionally, comments from non-friends will be screened. Sorry for the trouble,
- Current Mood:
If you live in California, tomorrow is the last day to register. Go HERE to register.
If you live in other states, get registered or verify that you are registered.
NOTE: The GOP is doing voter registration fraud again - dumping non-GOP registrations in VA, and buying voting machines. If they do it there, they'll do it anywhere, and they've done it before.
If you live in other states, get registered or verify that you are registered.
NOTE: The GOP is doing voter registration fraud again - dumping non-GOP registrations in VA, and buying voting machines. If they do it there, they'll do it anywhere, and they've done it before.
- Current Mood:
So, the abscess didn't drain. For 3 days after the first dentist visit, I was hopped up on vicodin, which barely took the edge off. Back to the dentist, he checked, did some other work, referred me to a root canal specialist. Saw him yesterday. He re-did the root canal, got the thing to drain. More $$$, of course.
Nearly every cent of my FSA set aside this year has been spent on dental work, and that's with insurance! (Insurance only covers $1500 of costs, at 50% to 80% - that barely covers one crown here in Silicon Valley!) That's like over $3000 for a couple hours work.
I'm not sure which hurts more - the abscess or the cashectomy. Pulling the tooth would have been cheaper, but then I would have needed a bridge, which costs even more!
Nearly every cent of my FSA set aside this year has been spent on dental work, and that's with insurance! (Insurance only covers $1500 of costs, at 50% to 80% - that barely covers one crown here in Silicon Valley!) That's like over $3000 for a couple hours work.
I'm not sure which hurts more - the abscess or the cashectomy. Pulling the tooth would have been cheaper, but then I would have needed a bridge, which costs even more!
- Current Mood:
It's bad enough that S. and I will have to *pay* someone to do our taxes because the federal government refuses to recognize same-sex pairings, but California does. California is a community property state, so even if the Feds don't agree, CA requires married type filing.
Now I see this, after setting aside a shit-ton of cash for our joint medical expenses:
Mother fucking fuck!!! I have already spent $1300 out of that this year for dental work for S.
Now I might have to "pay it back", even though it's my fucking money!
Nevermind that California says it is for both of us, the bigots in Congress trump it. Whatever happened to "full faith and credence?" Can the bigots in Congress so blithely wash that away with the stroke of the Bush bigot's pen? Oh, the "strict constructionists" in the Supreme Court aren't very "strict" when it clashes with their ideological (religious) bigotries.
Seriously, I am beginning to once again start hating anyone who belongs to what passes for a "Christian" church these days. I want all of those homophobic and/or misogynistic people to stick their heads in the toilet and *flush*. Between their fucking war on gays and the war on women, they need to be prosecuted as a hate group. That includes the anti-abortion and anti-gay bastards in Congress.
I am sick of this shit. Handmaids Tale was a dystopia, not a fucking manual!
Why don't those mother fuckers learn to mind their own business when it comes to people's personal lives? I really don't give a fuck what their angry little god who thinks he's king of the hill, and his preachers, says about gays or fetii. I just don't - it's not theirs to say. (All the other gods laugh at the deluded idiot anyway.) They are such hypocrites when it's them or their families that they should be ashamed to show their faces in public.
Now I see this, after setting aside a shit-ton of cash for our joint medical expenses:
Health Care FSA
Eligibility Rules
...
"Per tax law, expenses for domestic partners are not eligible."
Mother fucking fuck!!! I have already spent $1300 out of that this year for dental work for S.
Now I might have to "pay it back", even though it's my fucking money!
Nevermind that California says it is for both of us, the bigots in Congress trump it. Whatever happened to "full faith and credence?" Can the bigots in Congress so blithely wash that away with the stroke of the Bush bigot's pen? Oh, the "strict constructionists" in the Supreme Court aren't very "strict" when it clashes with their ideological (religious) bigotries.
Seriously, I am beginning to once again start hating anyone who belongs to what passes for a "Christian" church these days. I want all of those homophobic and/or misogynistic people to stick their heads in the toilet and *flush*. Between their fucking war on gays and the war on women, they need to be prosecuted as a hate group. That includes the anti-abortion and anti-gay bastards in Congress.
I am sick of this shit. Handmaids Tale was a dystopia, not a fucking manual!
Why don't those mother fuckers learn to mind their own business when it comes to people's personal lives? I really don't give a fuck what their angry little god who thinks he's king of the hill, and his preachers, says about gays or fetii. I just don't - it's not theirs to say. (All the other gods laugh at the deluded idiot anyway.) They are such hypocrites when it's them or their families that they should be ashamed to show their faces in public.
- Current Mood:
You've probably heard, if you are paying attention, about the murder of Trayvon Martin. Oh, the cops are calling it "self defense" and letting his murderer walk free. It's in that racist cesspit Florida, after all.
Now go read this: The Crime of Being Black: Trayvon Martin and the Everyday Reality of Racist Violence in America
Think about this the next time you get twitchy about seeing a black or latino teenager just meandering down the street. He's just a kid, with as much right to walk around in public as any adult. Wearing a hoodie, hood up or down, isn't a fucking criminal act, damnit.
Hell, if you meet a kid wandering down the street, meet his eye, smile, say hi or wave. He's your neighbor, and has a right to be there, just like you.
Now go read this: The Crime of Being Black: Trayvon Martin and the Everyday Reality of Racist Violence in America
Think about this the next time you get twitchy about seeing a black or latino teenager just meandering down the street. He's just a kid, with as much right to walk around in public as any adult. Wearing a hoodie, hood up or down, isn't a fucking criminal act, damnit.
Hell, if you meet a kid wandering down the street, meet his eye, smile, say hi or wave. He's your neighbor, and has a right to be there, just like you.
- Current Mood:
First, read ![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
naamah_darling on LJ or DW.
This is not the first time PayPal has dicked people over. They tried to tell DW what they could "allow" people to post, and when DW refused, they said "Well, we won't process your payments unless you conform." DW stuck to their guns and found another payment processor. It hurt them, and still does, because PayPal has a virtual monopoly on online payment processing.
Now they are telling Smashwords and other small web-based publishers what they can publish, or they won't process their payments. Smashwords caved.
What fucking business is it of PayPal's what you buy with your money as long as it's legal? If they act as a gatekeeper on content, and whether you can purchase it or not, then they become liable for the content, even if they never touch it. That's the difference between a common carrier/service provider and an editorial relationship.
But they are doing it.
I know from a number of ex-employees that they are a bunch of nasty, chiseling, repuke banksters without a technical clue one in their higher ranks, who will backstab and gaslight anyone who does not conform to their lockstep tightass mentality. They regularly drive "different" employees to mental breakdown and/or suicide. I already hate them for that.
This is right in line with the social conservatives attempt to impose their views on everyone through propaganda and market limits. (How can you explore and question an idea that you are never exposed to?)
Recommendations for alternate payment processors are cheerfully welcome.
I wish I was rich enough to start my own.
naamah_darling on LJ or DW.This is not the first time PayPal has dicked people over. They tried to tell DW what they could "allow" people to post, and when DW refused, they said "Well, we won't process your payments unless you conform." DW stuck to their guns and found another payment processor. It hurt them, and still does, because PayPal has a virtual monopoly on online payment processing.
Now they are telling Smashwords and other small web-based publishers what they can publish, or they won't process their payments. Smashwords caved.
What fucking business is it of PayPal's what you buy with your money as long as it's legal? If they act as a gatekeeper on content, and whether you can purchase it or not, then they become liable for the content, even if they never touch it. That's the difference between a common carrier/service provider and an editorial relationship.
But they are doing it.
I know from a number of ex-employees that they are a bunch of nasty, chiseling, repuke banksters without a technical clue one in their higher ranks, who will backstab and gaslight anyone who does not conform to their lockstep tightass mentality. They regularly drive "different" employees to mental breakdown and/or suicide. I already hate them for that.
This is right in line with the social conservatives attempt to impose their views on everyone through propaganda and market limits. (How can you explore and question an idea that you are never exposed to?)
Recommendations for alternate payment processors are cheerfully welcome.
I wish I was rich enough to start my own.
- Current Mood:
As in "your doctor should respect your womb integrity," (ie not be willing to remove it if you have fibroids) "or you should get a new doctor."
I'm sorry, but that is so breeder-centric, woman-as-baby-machine, psuedo-feminist claptrap that it makes me sick. Like a sane 40 some old year old woman is going to be obsessed with being able to bear children, "because that's her whole life, all she's meant for, if you take that away she has nothing" bullshit?
Nearly every woman I know hates menstruating, hates being chained to an expensive and messy set of feminine supplies, hates the prob associated with hormonal birth control, does not want to be defined as a walking "womb" and the only reason they don't want menopause is because of the other crap that goes with the hormone loss. This is even women who've had kids.
I've had a hist, I was thrilled. The ovaries remain, they were unaffected by the fibriods, there was no cancer. I am pleased as hell that my doctor didn't give me a lot of "but you could still have kiiids" crap at over 40. Sure, some folks do, but I think they're slightly nuts.
Yeah, I get the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it", which is why I wasn't seeking a hist at 20. But if it's broke? If it's causing pain, anemia and may be cancerous or pre-cancerous? Don't do a half-assed job of fixing the problem (D&C), and have to come back and do it again in 5 - 10 years.
Seriously "womb integrity??" How about quality of life, overall? How about me as a person, not me as a host for a fucking "womb". Should my doctor also have been respectful of my "appendix integrity" when it was about to burst? I don't think so! But because it involves producing children, it suddenly becomes *more* important than my health or comfort? It's now a sacred "womb". They can fuck that shit with a rusty chainsaw.
Every woman, whether she is a parent or not, is much, much more than just a potential producer of children. Her integrity as a person, her health and happiness, are far more important than her "womb integrity". It doesn't get a fucking say, it doesn't define her.
Don't fucking define women by the presence or functionality of a uterus. It's just wrong.
I'm sorry, but that is so breeder-centric, woman-as-baby-machine, psuedo-feminist claptrap that it makes me sick. Like a sane 40 some old year old woman is going to be obsessed with being able to bear children, "because that's her whole life, all she's meant for, if you take that away she has nothing" bullshit?
Nearly every woman I know hates menstruating, hates being chained to an expensive and messy set of feminine supplies, hates the prob associated with hormonal birth control, does not want to be defined as a walking "womb" and the only reason they don't want menopause is because of the other crap that goes with the hormone loss. This is even women who've had kids.
I've had a hist, I was thrilled. The ovaries remain, they were unaffected by the fibriods, there was no cancer. I am pleased as hell that my doctor didn't give me a lot of "but you could still have kiiids" crap at over 40. Sure, some folks do, but I think they're slightly nuts.
Yeah, I get the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it", which is why I wasn't seeking a hist at 20. But if it's broke? If it's causing pain, anemia and may be cancerous or pre-cancerous? Don't do a half-assed job of fixing the problem (D&C), and have to come back and do it again in 5 - 10 years.
Seriously "womb integrity??" How about quality of life, overall? How about me as a person, not me as a host for a fucking "womb". Should my doctor also have been respectful of my "appendix integrity" when it was about to burst? I don't think so! But because it involves producing children, it suddenly becomes *more* important than my health or comfort? It's now a sacred "womb". They can fuck that shit with a rusty chainsaw.
Every woman, whether she is a parent or not, is much, much more than just a potential producer of children. Her integrity as a person, her health and happiness, are far more important than her "womb integrity". It doesn't get a fucking say, it doesn't define her.
Don't fucking define women by the presence or functionality of a uterus. It's just wrong.
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